For Want of a Nail
by OwlPostAgain7
Summary: "Sirius wondered idly if he could wheedle a Cleansweep Five out of his Grandfather Arcturus when he got sorted into Slytherin." - 11-year-old Sirius Black admires a broomstick in Diagon Alley. Everything falls into place.


_For want of a nail the shoe was lost._

_For want of a shoe the horse was lost. _

_For want of a horse the rider was lost. _

_For want of a rider the message was lost. _

_For want of a message the battle was lost. _

_For want of a battle the kingdom was lost. _

_And all for the want of a horseshoe nail._

The Selwyns were not as well-bred as the Blacks, but hardly any pureblood families were.

However, Ernest Selwyn had six generations of pure blood, which was good enough to qualify him as a potential playmate in the eyes of Sirius's mother. Especially as the Selwyns were nearly as rich as the Malfoys. The Selwyns were certainly richer than the Blacks, though most pureblood families probably were.

It had been Sirius's mother and Mrs. Selwyn who had cooked up this excuse for an "outing," but it was Sirius who had been forced to traipse Diagon Alley with a boy who bore more than a passing intellectual and physical resemblance to a housefly.

Ernest Selwyn and Sirius Black shuffled down the street aimlessly, the former occasionally jerking his head slightly in order to remove his overgrown hair from his protruding green eyes. Mrs. Selwyn, who had been bustling along as though she had much more important things to do than manage a pair of eleven-year-olds, turned on the spot and stared at the boys critically. "Aren't you enjoying yourselves?"

They nodded with very little conviction. Mrs. Selwyn adopted a put-upon expression and removed a handful of galleons from her handbag. "Go amuse yourselves then. I've an appointment at Twilfit and Tattings."

She shoved galleons at each of them and hurried on without sparing the boys Ernest pocketed his share of the gold coins and, to Sirius's utter horror, made for the front door of Flourish and Blotts.

"What are you doing?" he called to the Ernest's back, not quite comprehending why an eleven-year-old boy who had just been given twelve galleons and the run of Wizarding London would choose to spend his time in a bookstore.

Ernest turned sluggishly and gave Sirius a bored look from behind heavy eyelashes. "I'm going inside. Aren't you coming?"

"You don't want to go back to Quality Quidditch Supplies, or Fortescue's or Gambol and Japes?" Sirius spent half his pocket money on stupid novelty stuff from Gambol and Japes.

"No," said Ernest.

"Fine. But I'm going to Gambol and Japes. I'm not going to any stupid bookshop."

The other boy shrugged and entered Flourish and Blotts. Sirius's irritation with his useless companion vanished when he realised he was now free to do whatever he wanted. He practically skipped down to Gambol and Japes, pausing only to spend a galleon and five sickles on a bulging bag of his favorite sweets.

He spent nearly an hour wandering through the joke shop, trying on the funny hats and gazing at the huge collection of wet-start fireworks. Eventually, the owner began giving him and his bag of sweets rather nasty looks, and Sirius thought it best to leave.

A few minutes later, he found himself gazing at the Cleansweep Five through the front window of Quality Quidditch Supplies. It was just his luck his parents had given him the Nimbus 280 for Christmas. They weren't going to buy him a new broom, even if he did explain about the smooth turn technology.

He popped a toffee into his mouth, wondering idly if he could wheedle a Cleansweep Five out of his grandfather Arcturus when he got sorted into Slytherin. He didn't remember his cousins getting anything for getting into Slytherin, but he was the heir.

His grandfather had never been afraid of going over Sirius's father's head and bestowing extravagant presents like real ivory chessman and robes with gold filigree.

"Sirius?"

Sirius whipped around so quickly that several pieces of toffee clattered to the ground. His head jerked upward and he found himself face-to-face with Andromeda.

"Andy!" he said, in delighted surprise.

Andy lurched forward as if she meant to embrace him, then straightened up. "Sirius, where's your mum?" Her eyes darted around the busy street.

Andy looked nervous rather than pleased, and it was making him feel rather wrong-footed. "She's at home, I s'pose. Mrs. Selwyn brought me and her son Ernest here, but she had to go shopping so she just gave us a bit of money and told us to shove off."

Sirius wasn't sure what he expected—perhaps a proper grown-up Andromeda who spoke in politely hushed tones and wore her hair short like his mother and Aunt Druella did—but Andromeda looked even less grown-up than she had the last time Sirius had seen her. She was wearing blue jeans, which Sirius wasn't even allowed to wear as play clothes.

Andromeda had always been his favorite cousin. Indeed his favorite family member, except perhaps Regulus. Everyone had liked Andy, even Grandfather Pollux shwho was half-mad and didn't like anyone. Only a few months before, his Grandfather Phineas had stood in front of twenty distinguished guests and toasted his granddaughter's N.E.W.T. marks and her undoubtedly bright future. And then, only a few days later, his aunt had stormed into Grimmauld Place in a towering temper, shouting about mudbloods and Andromeda. His parents had explained that Andromeda was not to be spoken of, and the others behaved as though they had never liked her and had always known that she would be trouble.

Sirius did not understand how Andromeda-who was meant to be so smart - could do something so obviously stupid as running off with a mudblood. Nor did he understand why the others were willing to act as though she had never meant anything to any of them.

Andromeda had always borne a strong resemblance to Bella, to the point that some had thought them twins. And yet Andromeda's features had always looked slightly softer, as if someone had gone and sanded down the sharpest curves of her squared chin and narrow nose. Andromeda's face was less brutal than Bella's, even if she lacked her elder sister's ability to express several layers of feelings with a lip quirk.

Andromeda seemed to be studying him just as he was studying her.

There was a beat of silence, and then the words fell from his lips. "I—I missed you."

The Blacks had never been the affectionate sort, and it caught Sirius slightly off-guard when Andromeda wrapped her arms around him. The buttons on her blouse pressed into his cheek.

Andromeda looked at something over Sirius's shoulder. Sirius turned round to see a stocky boy rocking on his heels just outside the door to the Quidditch shop, clearly unsure of whether or not he ought to approach the pair of them. "Right," said Andromeda. "Sirius, this is Ted. My—my husband." Ted closed the distance between them and shook Sirius's hand firmly.

Sirius shook his hand out of reflex, but could not help staring at Ted in open fascination, now that they had been introduced. If he hadn't known that Ted was a mudblood, he never would have guessed he wasn't a proper wizard. He didn't have horns or warts or disfigurements or anything. Sirius had never met a mudblood before, but he had always imagined them to be easily discernible. The thought that such a thing might look quite as normal as a pureblood rather intrigued him.

"You don't look like a mudblood," said Sirius frankly. Tact had never been his strong suit, no matter how many times his mother told him not to be impertinent.

Ted the mudblood chuckled, but Andy's smile slid from her face. "Sirius, that's a terrible word!"

Sirius's brow furrowed. "No it's not," he said patiently. Andy hadn't been away more than two months. How could she have already forgotten which words were polite and which words weren't?

"Yes, it is, Sirius," said Andy. She knelt down so the pair of them were face-to-face and held his chin in place so that she could be sure he was listening.

"I don't want you to use that word again, that m-word," she told him sternly. "That sort of thing doesn't matter."

"What sort of thing?"

"Blood, Sirius. It doesn't matter," she glanced over Sirius's shoulder and lowered her voice slightly. "Purebloods and Muggleborns are all the same when it comes to magic, no matter what any of the family-your parents, Uncle Phineas, anyone-says." The rushed quality of the words made Sirius feel slightly off-balance.

"Dad said they look different." The words felt childish and silly even as Sirius said them.

Ted the mudblood grinned down at Sirius, and he didn't look remotely similar to the brutish muggleborns from Sirius's storybooks. He had a round face and rosy cheeks, and Sirius couldn't quite picture him doing anything awful.

"What do you reckon we look like, Sirius?" said Ted, speaking for the first time since Sirius had met him. He seemed quite interested.

"Dunno. Horns and warts and things, I suppose."

Ted nodded understandingly. "Well, I don't have horns, though it's been a while since I looked. I've too much hair, see-" He motioned to his curly brown hair, "and I rather hope I don't have warts. I think you'd be hard-pressed to find a muggleborn with warts, actually." He spoke as though he was constantly on the verge of laughter.

"You look normal," Sirius told Teddy. "Like Cissy's boyfriend."

"Do I really?" said Ted, cocking his head a bit. "I've never much liked him." This statement endeared Sirius to Ted more than anything else could have, and, worried that he had offended the older boy, Sirius hurried to set his new friend at ease. "I don't like Lucius either. And you're a bit better-looking, I think. And more cheerful."

The boy laughed immoderately and Andy gave Sirius a look of such affection that it was almost embarrassing. "Have you got all of your school things?" she asked.

"Yeah, Mother took me last week," said Sirius, pulling a gleaming wand from his pocket.

"Eleven inches and dragon heartstring. Only I don't remember the wood," he paused, a bit troubled by this, but recovered quickly. "But I'm going to Hogwarts the day after tomorrow!"

Andy bit her lip. "You'll be alright at Hogwarts, won't you?" she said.

"Of course, said Sirius."I've already got a wand." He waved it slightly, and orange sparks emerged from the tip. "And I reckon I might be able to get a Cleansweep Five from Grandfather when I get into Slytherin."

For some reason, this did not seem to mollify Andromeda. "Sirius, do you know why I left?" she said.

"Because of Ted?"

Andy shook her head quickly. "I love Ted very much, but he's not the reason I left. When I was at Hogwarts, I let other people – our family – tell me who I was supposed to be."

"Right," said Sirius slowly.

"You have to promise me that whatever you do—you'll make your own choices. Don't let them make your choices for you."

"Is that what you did?" Sirius asked. "Make your own choices?"

Andy hesitated. "I didn't for a long time, Sirius. I was afraid of them—Bella, Granddad, your Mum. I let them tell me that people like Ted were scum. But they were wrong. I was wrong. And I wish I'd worked it out earlier." She leaned into Ted slightly, squeezing his hand.

She spotted something over Sirius's shoulder, and straightened up quickly. "Promise me, Sirius," she said urgently, "that you'll make your own choices. Don't be afraid of them like I was."

"I'm not afraid of them," said Sirius instinctively.

"Good boy," she said, smiling.

She scrawled something on a piece of parchment and shoved it into Sirius's hand. "When you get to school, you can send messages with the school owls. The address is there. Don't tell your mum."

"I won't, but—" Sirius's reply was cut off by a diamond-encrusted hand on his shoulder.

"Sirius, who are your new friends?" simpered Mrs. Selwyn.

Andy answered first. "I'm Sirius's old babysitter, actually. He was just telling my husband and me about your lovely son, Ernest. I've heard he's the spitting image of Magnus Selwyn."

Mrs. Selwyn puffed up slightly. Her son's resemblance to the paterfamilias of the Selwyn family was a point of pride to the family.

"He does look quite like him, thank you. Are you—"

"We really must dash, Sirius," said Andy hurriedly, apparently sensing a question about her parentage in the offing. "Do give my regards to your mother, won't you?"

"Tell her she's welcome to visit us whenever she pleases. I'll owl her the address," she gave a little bow of the head to Mrs. Selwyn, "It was lovely meeting you, ma'am."

Andromeda looked back at Sirius, and a flicker of emotion crossed her face before she smoothed it back out. For a moment, Sirius imagined that she was going to hug him again. But of course, Andy wouldn't dare to be so affectionate in front of Mrs. Selwyn.

"Be good, Sirius," Andromeda said.

He nodded.

Again, Andy's mask seemed to slip for a half-second before she recovered. She smiled at Mrs. Selwyn, and dragged Ted down the street by the hand.

Sirius had only a moment to watch them disappear into the thick crowds of Diagon Alley.

\- Fin -

And thank you to the lovely chinaglaze for betaing!


End file.
